Hundreds of people attended Grand Opening of the Permanent MyCityCare Street Store at Victory Lutheran Church on Saturday (Tiffany Goodwein/CHATNewsToday)

By Tiffany Goodwein

MyCityCare

‘You got to cut corners everywhere you can:’ Street store provides relief as Hatters cope with inflation

Apr 9, 2022 | 7:18 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB- Heaps of clothes lay up for grabs at the grand opening of the MyCityCare Street Store. For many, the event is a much needed hand up during difficult times.

“You got to cut corners everywhere you can. Every break is a good break,” said one man looking for clothes.

According to Statistics Canada , inflation has risen to some of the highest levels seen in 31 years at 5.7 per cent in February. That has raised the cost of food, gas and other essentials. The jump in costs have led some Hatters to make sacrifices in order to pinch pennies.

The sacrifices range from the more subtle:

IN THE COMMUNITY

Medicine Hat's Mustard Seed adding new shelter spaces at Alberta government's request

3h ago

HOLIDAYS

Medicine Hat Kiwanis hosting Christmas dinner, applications due Friday

5h ago

IN THE COMMUNITY

'Compassionate Friends' offer peer support for bereaved in Medicine Hat

21h ago

“Definitely looking at things like lowering the thermostat during the day, switching to meatless days and switching to more sustainable products instead of disposables especially with little ones,” said one young mother.

To the more drastic in order to make ends meet.

“I mean I had to move because the apartment where I was living was just too expensive. So I had to move here, that’s how bad it was,” said one woman looking for clothes.

Shyla Maneschyn with MyCityCare says the demand has been huge from clothing, to baby supplies to emergency food hampers. On their grand opening day alone, 430 people were served in a span of four hours.

” I think that there have been a lot of people who were just okay for a while and then with COVID-19, and then with prices rising, okay is just suddenly ‘I can’t barely even make it work.’ And so what we can do is, we can do what little we can do, but it still means a lot. Obviously with the amount of people coming out there is a need for clothes, there is a need for food, there is a need for the basic necessities,” she said.

A need for the basic necessities, that once met, mean the world to the people receiving them.

“It’s a god send,” said one man.